Unique, Odd, or Interesting Signs aka The good, the bad, and the ugly

[jakeroot]

How does one imbed an imgur image here?

The link you provided had an "m.imgur.com" URL -- only "imgur.com" should be included. Additionally, your link (the random string of letters and numbers after the last forward-slash) wasn't long enough. My photos are all 7 digits long.

Everything else about the link was correct.

[Tom958]

How does one imbed an imgur image here?

Hit the button that says, "BBCode (message boards & forums)." Doing so copies the correct link to your clipboard. Then paste it here.

[Pete from Boston]

What's going on here? Mount Desert Island, Maine.

[Rothman]

Yep.  That is what happens when your route is a small loop route.

[cbeach40]

I found this "Stop Before Crossing" sign in Cambridge, ON: https://goo.gl/maps/Nw5rQ2nQGtq. Why not use a stop sign?

https://i.imgur.com/NfoV5Oq.jpg

I saw dozens of cars drive by and no one stopped for the railway tracks. But judging from how overgrown they are, I'm guessing they're out of commission, so it's not really necessary.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a stop sign at a railway crossing in Canada before. At least not in BC. Not sure they're allowed. Perhaps the local municipality was worried about impacts so they worded the warning sign how they did to reduce liability. Lol

It depends on the crossing. If the road and rail authorities feels going under stop control makes sense, they can implement that. Couple of examples:
Riverbank Lane, Grand Bay-Westfield, NB: https://goo.gl/maps/wW3Y72F9x1v
Mongomery Ave, Hawk Junction, ON: https://goo.gl/maps/WqXMrSKCn5B2
Kerr St, Vancouver, BC: https://goo.gl/maps/4UX5yBjzpT22

For the Stop Before Crossing warning sign, those are apparently fairly common around Southern Ontario on back roads where they meet unsignalized crossings.
https://goo.gl/maps/rbbCZGmaCr52
But I think you're right there, the road/rail authorities felt it was good to have a bit of warning to make sure they're covered while still keeping it legally under a yield condition.

edit:  When I was looking for examples of the stop control, a few that I was familiar with in Southern Ontario have recently been converted to the warning signs. Probably to reduce unnecessary stop signs while still maintaining providing enhanced warning to drivers.

[kurumi]

Yep.  That is what happens when your route is a small loop route.

ME 198's alignment is even stranger than ME 3's. Contiguous overlaps with 102 and 3, then a tiny stretch of non-overlapped route at the south end.

[Roadgeekteen]

What's going on here? Mount Desert Island, Maine.

Some idiots might not know that it is a route.

[Pete from Boston]

Ah, I did not realize that it did a full loop, or if I did, it didn't occur to me that directionality would be an issue, but of course it would.

[Jim]

You can check out its odd routing on TM.

tm.teresco.org/hb/index.php?r=me.me003

I am curious about the purpose of 3's concurrency north of Northeast Harbor with 198.  3 could end there and the route up to 102 could just be 198.

[tckma]

Ah, I did not realize that it did a full loop, or if I did, it didn't occur to me that directionality would be an issue, but of course it would.

But then, why do we have directions on beltways?  "Inner Loop" and "Outer Loop" doesn't really solve the issue, and confuses me unless I think about it for a few minutes.  Also, there are roads that change directionality, such as MD-140 being signed north-south from Baltimore to roughly the end of I-795, but east-west from there to the Pennsylvania line (and that makes sense).

The Queen Elizabeth Way in Ontario, being a roughly C-shaped route, uses control cities for directional plates on reassurance markers -- Fort Erie, Niagara, Toronto -- I forget which others as I haven't been on that road in over ten years.

[tckma]

You can check out its odd routing on TM.

tm.teresco.org/hb/index.php?r=me.me003

I am curious about the purpose of 3's concurrency north of Northeast Harbor with 198.  3 could end there and the route up to 102 could just be 198.

Looks like directionality is only an issue south of Baaaaaa Haaaabaaaa.  Am I correct in the assumption that it's signed as a north-south route from Bar Harbor to Ellsworth, then as an east-west route from Ellsworth west?

[cbeach40]

The Queen Elizabeth Way in Ontario, being a roughly C-shaped route, uses control cities for directional plates on reassurance markers -- Fort Erie, Niagara, Toronto -- I forget which others as I haven't been on that road in over ten years.

Toronto is used beginning to end when going Toronto bound. Fort Erie bound it goes Hamilton, Niagara (as far as Niagara Falls), Fort Erie.

[Mapmikey]

You can check out its odd routing on TM.

tm.teresco.org/hb/index.php?r=me.me003

I am curious about the purpose of 3's concurrency north of Northeast Harbor with 198.  3 could end there and the route up to 102 could just be 198.

Looks like directionality is only an issue south of Baaaaaa Haaaabaaaa.  Am I correct in the assumption that it's signed as a north-south route from Bar Harbor to Ellsworth, then as an east-west route from Ellsworth west?

Per GMSV it is signed E-W throughout.  There is even a ME 3 East shield on its ME 198 overlay when it is now heading northwest...

https://goo.gl/maps/hfFEV9TywZE2

Spot checking showed only ROUTE banners otherwise once it gets past the Otter Creek village area.

[Pete from Boston]

I can confirm that it is east-west north of Bar Harbor because there is an extensive 3 West detour going on there at the moment.

[formulanone]

Somervell County (TX) Road 305:

[MarkF]

Saw a few of these Speed Table signs on a recent trip to Maui:
https://www.google.com/maps/@20.866044,-156.6737058,3a,75y,358.01h,75.01t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s3eBVYBSrLyhlLetgNFn4cw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[Roadgeekteen]

Somervell County (TX) Road 305:

Is it just me or is that sign unusually tall?

[csw]

Most signs are taller than they seem from the road, but when you get up close, you realize they can be a good 8-10 feet in the air.

[freebrickproductions]

Most signs are taller than they seem from the road, but when you get up close, you realize they can be a good 8-10 feet in the air.

IIRC, the MUTCD says that they're supposed to be at least 7 feet up in areas where pedestrians are expected (or something like that). IMHO, I kinda like that CR shield better than the current pentagon, as a square one would probably be cheaper to produce for counties.

[cjk374]

Most signs are taller than they seem from the road, but when you get up close, you realize they can be a good 8-10 feet in the air.

IIRC, the MUTCD says that they're supposed to be at least 7 feet up in areas where pedestrians are expected (or something like that). IMHO, I kinda like that CR shield better than the current pentagon, as a square one would probably be cheaper to produce for counties.

Just look at my avatar on the left. This is what I grew up knowing what parish road shields were. Pentagons were always in other parishes.

[Michael]

I found this sign while looking around last week on Street View.  Earlier this week, I stumbled on a photo of it from formulanone's Flickr page:

[jakeroot]

Most signs are taller than they seem from the road, but when you get up close, you realize they can be a good 8-10 feet in the air.

That CR shield still seems kind of tall. This reassurance assembly near me couldn't be more than 6 or 7 feet up.

Maybe the shield is just a little small, so it's an illusion?

[formulanone]

Somervell County (TX) Road 305:

Is it just me or is that sign unusually tall?

Most signs are taller than they seem from the road, but when you get up close, you realize they can be a good 8-10 feet in the air.

That CR shield still seems kind of tall. This reassurance assembly near me couldn't be more than 6 or 7 feet up.

Maybe the shield is just a little small, so it's an illusion?

It really was a bit too tall, especially for a local road off another minor road.

Found it tricky to compose with a 55mm lens.

[Michael]

I just saw this cool automated flagger sign on Imgur.

[D-Dey65]

Most signs are taller than they seem from the road, but when you get up close, you realize they can be a good 8-10 feet in the air.

Then evidently NYSDOT Region #10 didn't get that memo, because I often used to hit my head on the northbound divided highway warning sign on NY 112 just before that road approached the Long Island Expressway... and I've been barely six feet since I was 21.